An Unusual Request
by Kacy Myth
Summary: It's Lisanna's turn to pick the mission she, Natsu, and Happy will go on and pick she does. They have to ensure the safety of a ring. The catch? It will require going to a dance and acting like a couple.


"Ooh!" Lisanna squealed. "I get to pick the next mission! I nearly forgot!"

Natsu nodded, tapping his foot impatiently. "Hurry up and pick one I wanna get going."

Lisanna frowned at him. "No need to be so hasty."

"Okay. Okay." He said. "Take your time. Hey where's Happy gone off to?"

"Hmm? Oh I think he said something about catching fish for the trip. He'll be along soon enough, I'm sure." Lisanna replied, still examining the request board.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Ooh! I like the sound of this one." She tugged the little piece of paper off the board with a wide grin.

"Yeah?" Natsu said, curiously. "What is it?"

She held out the flier to him. His eyes widened. "No way!"

"Come on!" Lisanna giggled. "You said I got to pick the next mission! And look at the reward!"

"Whoa! That's a lot of jewels!"

"Totally worth it, right?"

"I dunno…."

"Oh lighten up! Happy's with me, aren't you?" She said, as the blue cat appeared on cue.

His eyes too lit up. "THINK OF ALL THE FISH I COULD BUY WITH THAT MONEY!"

"Didn't you just go fishing?"

He nodded, sadly. "Yeah, but I ate them all already."

"Happy!" Lisanna scolded. "I thought you were gonna save them for the mission!"

"Aww man!" Natsu complained. "What are we gonna eat then?"

"We'll find something," Lisanna said. "This mission shouldn't take us more than a few days. Here," She handed him the flier. "You go secure this mission for us, I'll go pack us some provisions!"

She dashed off.

"Oh no you don't, Natsu!" Happy exclaimed, recognizing something in his mannerisms. "Think how upset you'll make Lisanna if you sign us up for a different mission!"

Natsu sighed. "Yeah. You're right. I mean, it is worth a lot of jewels, right?"

Happy nodded. "And I think it might even be fun!"

"Fun?" He said. "Are you serious? More like humiliating!"

Happy giggled. "Well, fun for me at least. And Lisanna seems excited."

"Really? You think so?" He said, skeptically.

Happy rolled his eyes. "You can be very clueless sometimes, Natsu."

"Hey!"

"Just go sign us up for the mission!"

"Fine!" He stomped over to the bar. "Mira! Lisanna wants us to go on this mission!"

As she surveyed it, her gaze flickered from amusement to something more akin to a threat.

"You best be careful, Dragneel." She said, menacingly. "If anything happens to her…" She trailed off, and made a throat slitting gesture.

Natsu gulped. This mission wasn't even all that dangerous. What was she talking about?

Happy gave Mira a salute. "Don't you worry! I'll look out for them!"

She nodded.

Natsu and Happy wandered off in the direction Lisanna had gone, Natsu still vaguely confused.

Lisanna came jogging towards them, carrying a picnic basket in addition to the luggage they'd already had. "Found some stuff!" She grinned. "You guys ready to go?"

"Yeah!" Natsu said.

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

And off they set.

-o-

The trip to their destination was long, but enjoyable. They chatted the whole way, though they did stop for snacks more often then was strictly necessary.

Finally they arrived at their destination and it was then that Natsu felt an unfamiliar sensation. He soon decided it was nerves.

Grinning cheerfully, Lisanna entered the building first. It was large and grand, a mansion really, befitting the task with which they had been send which was to infiltrate an event and stop a priceless ring from being stolen.

There was one catch however. The event that they were infiltrating was a black tie party where everyone was expected to bring a date and there in lay the trouble.

A butler appeared out of nowhere and asked, "Who are you?"

Lisanna smiled. "We're the wizards from Fairy Tail! We're here to take your mission." She turned slightly so her guild mark was exposed.

The butler nodded. "Right this way." He glared suspiciously at Natsu for some reason, maybe he pegged him for a troublemaker.

Natsu just grinned and followed, playing at nonchalance.

Their guide opened the door to a room, revealing a neat parlor. "Wait in there. The mistress of the house will be along shortly."

"Okay!" Lisanna chirped. "Thank you."

"Oh could you ask the mistress to bring some fish when she does?" Happy asked. "I'm starving!"

"Happy!" Lisanna scolded. "Be polite! We're guests!"

He grumbled, but said nothing.

The butler left and they waited in silence for a moment.

"I still don't see why we had to go to a stupid dressy party." Natsu complained.

Lisanna rolled her eyes. "Come on! It'll be fun! If nothing else think of the jewels."

"Fine."

An elegant woman in a pale grey sundress entered the room. Her expression was serene as she took a seat in a chair across from the three of them.

"So you're the Fairy Tail wizards who accepted my request." She smiled. "Thank you very much."

"It's no trouble, Ms.?" Lisanna said.

"Call me Samorn." She replied. "Now let's get down to business. The party will take place tomorrow evening. Until then, you are welcome to explore the grounds and we will have a room prepared for you three."

"Great!" Lisanna said. "What else should we know?"

"We have the name of the thief, but we do not know his appearance. If we did, we would be able to keep him away from the event." Samorn said. "However, it is unlikely he will use his real name which is Nathaniel Thorne. The ring he is after will be on my finger the entire night. Eventually, he will make his move and it will be up to you to stop him."

"Sounds easy." Natsu said. "How hard can it be to stop one person from stealing a ring?"

"Ah." Samorn said. "A fact I have neglected to mention is that he is, in fact a wizard, and quite a powerful one."

"Still seems pretty-ow!" Lisanna had elbowed him.

"Do you have any idea what kind of magic he uses?" She asked.

Samorn shook her head, her dark brown hair swung back and forth. "Sadly, I do not."

"Thanks anyways." Lisanna replied.

"Is that all?" Natsu asked.

Samorn nodded.

-o-

Several hours later, the three of them were lead to their room, having spent the remainder of the day exploring the grounds and playing the creek.

They were feeling quite content after their fun-filled evening and they were ready to get some sleep before their mission tomorrow.

A servant lead them to a room in the east wing. The door swung open easily, revealing a neat room done up in bright gold and red in keeping with the style of the manor. It was quite luxurious and rather large and nice with only one problem.

There was only one bed.

However, if this bothered Lisanna, she didn't show it. She merely set down her bag in the corner and smiled.

"Well this is nice." She said.

Natsu nodded, trying to appear equally relaxed.

Happy flew around and banged into the chandelier. "Yeah, it's pretty nice, but where I am gonna sleep! There's only one bed!"

"It's a queen sized bed," Lisanna pointed out. "I'm sure we'll all fit, unless you want to go demand another room from Samorn."

"Yeah." Natsu said. "It's just for a night. It's no big deal."

"Okay." Happu said. "But no hogging the blanket!" With that, he dived under the covers and promptly fell asleep.

"That was fast." Lisanna whispered.

Natsu nodded. "Well it is pretty late." He joined Happy under the covers while Lisanna gave the pair a bemused look.

"Be right back," She murmured.

"Where are you going?" Natsu asked.

She pointed at her usual outfit of a pink dress. "I'm not sleeping in this!"

"Oh okay."

She smiled at him and left the room with her bag, returning a few moments later in a light blue set of pajamas looking rather adorably tired.

She crawled into bed beside Natsu and Happy. "Good night, Happy. Good night, Natsu."

"Good night, Lisanna." Natsu said before he fell asleep.

-o-

The first thing Natsu felt upon awaking was warmth, followed closely by a feeling of great contentedness. As his consciousness returned to him, he realized that he had ended up holding Lisanna sometime in the night.

Brain still addled by sleep, he pressed his face into her sweet smelling hair.

A few minutes after that, his consciousness returned fully and he pulled away.

Happy and Lisanna appeared to both still be asleep, but Natsu moved Happy out of the way to get out of bed.

"Aw yeah. I hope we get to beat up that thief today!"

Roused by Natsu moving him, Happy spoke up sleepily, "Go back to sleep, Natsu. It's too early to be beating people up."

"What are you talking about?" Natsu said. "I'm not beating anybody up yet and it's not that early!"

Happy sighed and sat up. "Well don't be so loud. You'll wake Lisanna."

"Aw she's fine. She's a heavy sleeper from the looks of things."

"Whatever Natsu. Let's go get breakfast."

"Good idea! I wonder where the kitchen is…"

"Let's go see."

They wandered out into the manor, looking for the kitchen. Eventually they ran into a servant who pointed them in the right direction.

"Hey this is really good." Natsu said, stuffing his face and ignoring the looks from the chefs.

Happy nodded. "Yummy nummy!"

"Excuse me!" said a particularly stern looking cook.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Either take some food and be on your way or wait for breakfast like everyone else, but do not just stand there blocking the way!"

"Oh. Sorry!" Natsu said. He grabbed about ten muffins and left while the cook rolled her eyes.

"That chef was mean." Happy complained. "We weren't that in the way."

"Well we needed to be going anyways. Lisanna's probably wondering where we are."

"Good point."

They headed back to their room to find Lisanna up and dressed.

"Good morning, Natsu!" She chirped. "Ooh muffins." She snatched one from his hand.

"Uh yeah." He said. "So when are we gonna go to take down that thief?"

"Hmm. Samorn said it was this evening so I don't know what we have to do until then. I guess we could ask Samorn if there was anything we need to do in preparation. Or we could just have fun."

"Fun!" Happy chirped.

Lisanna smiled. "I thought you'd say that."

The trio killed time until the lunch, wandering around and chatting. Just enjoying each other's company. For the most part.

Happy and Natsu got into a fight mid morning, fortunately Lisanna was able to help them resolve it and all was well.

They found their way to the dining hall just in time for lunch and to their surprise found Samorn there.

"It is good to see you," She said. "I have something I would like to discuss."

"What would that be?" Lisanna smiled, always polite.

"The three of you will need formal attire for the ball. Did you bring any?"

Lisanna shook her head and Natsu looked bemused.

"That is not a problem." Samorn said kindly. "We will find something suitable after lunch."

"Sounds good to me." Lisanna said.

Natsu nodded. Lunch sounded good to him as well.

Lunch was good as it turned out. There was chicken and rolls and salad and even fish for Happy.

Lisanna thanked their host profusely while Natsu and Happy dug in.

"So," Samorn said, politely. "How long have you two been together?"

Natsu froze in the middle of scarfing down a roll, but Lisanna smiled, having it covered.

"Officially, it's been about three months now." She replied. "But we've been close for ages. I've known Natsu since I was a kid."

"How sweet," Samorn replied. "I do love a tale of childhood sweethearts."

Lisanna nodded, ignoring both Natsu's bewildered expression and Happy's snickering. "I do too. It's so romantic."

The polite conversation continued, mainly because Lisanna and Samorn, with Natsu and Happy jumping in on occasion.

They finished eating soon enough and left the table, Samorn assuring them that the servants would take care of the dishes.

Samorn then lead them down the hall to a room. There was a young man inside and also several racks of clothing.

"Ah! Ms. Samorn!" He said. "How can I help you?"

She smiled at him. "Would you help my acquaintances find appropriate attire to the event this evening? They did not bring anything suitable with them."

"It would be my pleasure." He said before turning to Natsu, Lisanna, and Happy. "My name is Zane, and you are?"

"I'm Natsu." Natsu said. "This is Lisanna." She nodded. "And I'm Happy!" Happy spoke up.

"Wonderful," he said.

"I shall leave you to it then." Samorn said. "The party is at seven o'clock. Once you pick out your outfits you are free to do as you please."

"Thanks, Samorn." Lisanna said, and then Samorn left.

"Shall we start with the lady?" Zane asked.

No one raised any objections so he took that as an affirmative and guided Lisanna over to a rack and began picking through it.

"Hmm no. No. Good color. Oh no that style won't do at all. Maybe. No. No. Definitely no." He murmured. As so on.

Natsu tuned it out, rooting through the racks curiously. Happy joined Lisanna and Zane and offered his opinion.

A few minutes later, Zane let out a triumphant, "Aha!" And ushered Lisanna and a dress towards a makeshift changing room.

"Um okay." She said from behind the curtain.

In a few seconds, Lisanna changed and then stepped out.

And Natsu's mind went totally blank.

She was clad in a deep blue dress that brought out the color of her eyes. The skirt was tiered and made of a flowing chiffon material. The bodice has a halter strap neckline and the whole thing was offset by a white bow tied around her waist.

She looked very, very pretty.

Zane looked pleased with himself. "Pretty good, huh?"

Natsu nodded. "Y-yeah."

"You loooove her." Happy teased.

"Shut up." Natsu replied.

"You really think it looks good, Natsu?" Lisanna asked.

"Yeah. Of course I do."

Lisanna smiled, widely then went back into the changing room to change, appearing a few moments later in her regular outfit.

"Okay. Your go, Natsu." She said.

"Wha-yeah okay."

Zane directed him towards another rack and began picking through it as well.

It took him considerably less time to find Natsu an outfit and soon enough Natsu was garbed in a white suit with a light blue undershirt and dark blue tie.

Lisanna smiled. "You look great!"

Natsu looked down at the outfit. "Yeah. This looks alright."

Lisanna giggled as Natsu retreated back into the changing room.

Zane handed Happy a bow tie and then that was that.

The three of them left with their formal wear.

"Thanks for your help!" Lisanna smiled.

-o-

The ballroom was shimmering, positively covered with glowing strings of lights. There was, of course, a string quartet in the corner playing a soft, cheerful piece and waiters and waitresses garbed in matching outfits stepped through the crowd bearing drinks and high quality hors d'oeuvres.

But Natsu paid none of the decorations any mind. Instead, he was already scanning the crowd for any one who looked suspicious.

"Gosh. Lighten up, Natsu." Lisanna laughed. "The party's just started he might not even be here yet. Let's just have some of the food."

"Yeah you really should try some, Natsu," said Happy, who had already swiped something from one of the passing trays. "Yummy nummy!" He exclaimed. "Tuna!"

Natsu grabbed about five finger sandwiches and tried one of them. "Oh!" He grinned. "These are good!"

Lisanna smiled, and accepted a drink. "Come on, let's go find Samorn. If the thief has arrived yet, he'll be near her."

Samorn was fulfilling her duties as hostess and was making conversation with several people who Natsu was immediately suspicious of.

"Ah! Natsu. Lisanna. Happy." She nodded to each of them in turn. "Allow me to introduce you to my friends."

She did so and the names went over Natsu's head, but it was clear that these people were not the thief as Samorn spoke so highly of them.

The event continued as normal and nothing out of the ordinary happened until, about an hour later, spurred by some unseen cue, the music changed and the crowds cleared to reveal a dance floor.

For some reason, Natsu hadn't anticipated there would be dancing, but Lisanna merely looked excited. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the developing fray of dancers.

"Whaaa?"

She grinned. "What if someone tries to steal the ring with they're dancing with Samorn? We should stick close to her."

"Yeah! Good idea."

Natsu was pretty sure the guy was supposed to lead, but he let Lisanna do it since she knew how to dance better than he did. He put one hand on Lisanna's shoulder and the other on her waist at her direction and tried to fight down a flustered feeling.

"There you go." She said, a few moments later. "Now you're getting the hang of it."

"Errrm thanks."

"No problem." She lead them gracefully over to where Samorn was dancing and Natsu, remembering their objective tried to keep an eye on the ring. It was rather difficult though. Lisanna kept stealing his gaze which was silly, Natsu thought to himself. He'd seen her loads of times before.

Maybe it was the dress she was wearing or the lighting? Yes. The lighting did make her looking even more angelic than usual.

"Whatcha thinking about, Natsu?" She asked, turning them slowly in time to the music. "You've got a funny look on your face."

"Uh…you look good." He blurted.

She beamed. "Thanks." She drew breathe to say more when suddenly their conversation was cut off by a shout.

"My ring!" It was Samorn's voice.

The pair turned and saw that while they had been dancing the thief had struck.

Thank the stars the thief was still here. Natsu's keen senses found him instantly and the duo immediately sprang into action.

Nathaniel Thorne was tall and pale, reminiscent of a candle stick. Natsu took in his appearance in a glance before he zeroed in on a flash of silver and pounced.

Nathaniel seemed to flicker away. Natsu whirled around.

"He's over here!" Lisanna cried. She had transformed into her cat take-over without Natsu noticing and was racing after the flickering form of the thief.

What kind of magic was he using? Natsu wondered. Teleportation? Speed? Mist, maybe?

It didn't matter. Natsu was confident he could take him out no matter what magic he was wielding. Particularly with Lisanna assisting him.

"Natsu!" Lisanna yelled. "Block the exit!"

He raced through the crowd of startled and slightly panicked guests to guard the exit.

Nathaniel, who had been racing towards the exit, Lisanna in pursuit, took a sharp turn and cackled.

Natsu let out a cry of victory as their opponent was now trapped against the wall. Lisanna stood facing him, claws at the ready and Natsu was still guarding the door, cracking his knuckles menacingly.

But the uncanny smirk on the villain's face did not waver. It was the look of a man who knew something they did not.

"Would you like to do the honors, Natsu?" Lisanna asked, looking only slightly unsettled by Nathaniel's resilient smirk. What could he do after all? They had him properly trapped.

Natsu grinned, wide. "I sure would." He advanced, fists blazing and swung at Nathaniel's head.

Milliseconds before impact, Nathaniel flickered, just once, and then he was gone, leaving the lingering hiss of "Did you really think it would be that easy?"

"What?!" Natsu and Lisanna shouted.

"Quick! He has to be around here somewhere!" Lisanna cried, looking around frantically. Then she paused. "Can you smell him, Natsu?"

Natsu sniffed. "Yeah I can. He's got a weird scent."

"Lead the way!"

Natsu raced out of the ballroom, Lisanna close behind him. He took a sharp turn left, towards the wall Nathaniel had been pinned against. They raced along the corridor until they exited the manor. From there they could see the flickering figure darting across the grounds.

"There he is!" Lisanna shouted, gesturing with one gray and white cat paw. The pair of them poured on more speed. "We're gonna have to get a disabling hit in or we're never gonna catch him!"

Natsu nodded. "Fire dragon: Roar!" He bellowed. The blast traveled the remaining distance between them and their opponent and when it hit him, he sprawled.

"Got him!" Natsu grinned, confidently.

Lisanna beamed back. "That wasn't too hard." She laughed.

Lisanna snatched the ring from out of his hand and Natsu lifted up the unconscious figure and began dragging him back towards the estate.

"You know, I'm surprised he couldn't dodge that attack with all of his speed or whatever that was." Lisanna said conversationally.

"It's got a broad range." Natsu replied. "He didn't know what hit him!"

Lisanna giggled. "Yes, good job. I wonder what kind of magic he was using though….."

Natsu shrugged, which caused Nathaniel to groan so Lisanna smacked him on the head again to make sure he didn't wake up.

They made their way back into the ballroom. The guests were all quite panicked and Samorn was doing her best to call everyone down. Her eyes lit up when she saw them enter.

"You succeeded!" She said, pleased.

Lisanna handed her back her ring and she slipped it on her finger.

Samorn smiled. "Thank you for your services."

"No problem." Natsu said. "What should I do with this guy?"

"Ah. I should call for the local law enforcement to arrest him for attempted theft and his various other crimes. Just set him down anywhere. I'll have somebody tie him up." Samorn said.

Natsu dropped him unceremoniously on the floor.

"Hey," Natsu said suddenly. "Where did Happy go?"

"Oh my gosh!" Lisanna exclaimed. "In all of the excitement, I lost track of him."

"Natsuuuuu! Lisannaaaa!" He shrieked, gliding down towards them. "There you guys are! You left me! I was worried!"

"What do you mean we left you?!" Natsu protested. "You're the one who ran off while we were dancing!"

"You guys were dancing?" Happy said. "You looooove her! You looooove her!"

"Aw shut up!"

"Happy!" Lisanna interrupted. "Where did you go?"

"All of the talking was boring." He said. "So I flew off to survey the crowd from above and then I got distracted by one of the servers carrying a plate of raw fish and then I heard Samorn shout, "My ring!" and you guys starting chasing after this flickering person and then he disappeared and then you guys left and I didn't know what was happening!"

Lisanna patted Happy comfortingly on the head. "It's alright, Happy. We were just going after the thief. We took care of it."

"Yeah….okay….just give me a warning next time."

Lisanna smiled. "Sure."

"So now that that's all settled." Samorn said, primly. "Perhaps you would like to discuss the matter of your payment?"

"Oh!" The three of them exclaimed.

"Um yeah we would actually." Lisanna replied.

Their host smiled. "I thought you might."

When all was settled, it was late in the evening. Much too late to begin their journey back to Magnolia so Samorn allowed them to stay another night.

The three of them cuddled up on their bed once more and fell into blissful sleep.

-o-

They rose early the next morning and said their good byes to Samorn and the rest of the staff before they departed.

Natsu was feeling unusually reflective as they walked and he remarked internally that something had changed during this mission. A change for the better, he was quite sure.

He grinned and slipped his hand into Lisanna's as they continued their walk back home.


End file.
